Yearly Archives: 2013

New Report: Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools

New Report: Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools

Today, UCLA’s Civil Rights Project released a new report highlighting the overuse of suspensions and the serious implications that it has on students’ trajectories including graduation rates, achievement scores, life outcomes and incarceration rates. The report looks at data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools during the 2009-2010 academic year. Its findings show ... Read More
 
New York Times Article Showcases Restorative Justice Program Coordinator Eric Butler

New York Times Article Showcases Restorative Justice Program Coordinator Eric Butler

In Oakland, schools have employed restorative justice practices as an alternative to ‘”zero-tolerance” policies. Eric Butler is a coordinator of restorative justice for Ralph J. Brunche High School. We highlighted Mr. Butler and Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) in our Fix School Discipline Toolkit The restorative justice program at Ralph J. Brunche promotes strong ... Read More
 
New Article: What the DOJ Can’t Do on School Discipline Reform

New Article: What the DOJ Can’t Do on School Discipline Reform

An excellent historical look at racial disparity in one town’s school-to-prison-pipeline. In Meridian, Mississippi, the Department of Justice initiated a case review of the town during the 2007-2008 school year, confirming that African-American students were treated more harshly than their white counterparts. During one six-year period studied, students were arrested for such simple things as ... Read More
 
Christian Science Monitor Publishes Two Articles on the School-To-Prison-Pipeline

Christian Science Monitor Publishes Two Articles on the School-To-Prison-Pipeline

Two new articles in the Christian Science Monitor focus on the school-to-prison-pipeline and restorative justice models. “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline” looks nationwide, at schools’ disparity in suspension and expulsion rates for different groups and why that happens. Read more… The related article, “Restorative justice: One high school’s path to reducing ... Read More
 
New Article: The secret to fixing school discipline problems? Change the behavior of adults.

New Article: The secret to fixing school discipline problems? Change the behavior of adults.

There are waves in our schools as restorative justice replaces punitive justice. More than 23,000 schools are letting go of punitive approaches to discipline in favor of restorative models. Schools that adopt these models often see at least a 20% drop in suspension rates during their first year, which impacts graduation rates, test scores and ... Read More
 

New Report: Juvenile Arrest and Collateral Educational Damage in the Transition to Adulthood

A new report by David S. Kirk and Robert J. Sampson highlights the impact of juvenile arrest on completion of high school and how it alters life trajectories around work and family. The report concludes: With high school and even college graduation virtually a necessity for a successful transition to adulthood, we conclude that the ... Read More
 

Oakland Unified Reduces Suspensions With Restorative Justice Framework

The Oakland Unified School District is working to combat racial disparities in how it disciplines students. This year, it has made some progress in reducing suspensions of African-American students, using a restorative justice framework. Additionally, it also developed a plan that looks at school culture and climate, working with teachers and staff to provide trainings ... Read More
 

7-Year-Old Boy Suspended for Pastry Shaped Like Gun

California isn’t the only state where parents are concerned about harsh rules like willful defiance. In yet another example of the arbitrary nature of ‘willful defiance’, last week, a 7-year-old boy was suspended for biting his pop-tart pastry into the shape of a gun. This follows a trend of young children suspended for pointing their fingers ... Read More
 
Take Action Now! Support AB 420 to Help Stop Suspensions for ‘Willful Defiance’

Take Action Now! Support AB 420 to Help Stop Suspensions for ‘Willful Defiance’

Are you an educator, student, parent, concerned community member, student advocate or school administrator? Do you care about helping students stay in school and preventing unnecessary suspensions and expulsions? You have an opportunity to make a difference by sending a letter of support to legislators for Assembly Bill 420. AB 420 will limit the use of ... Read More
 
Meet Sarah Omojola: Public Counsel’s Statewide Education Advocate!

Meet Sarah Omojola: Public Counsel’s Statewide Education Advocate!

Sarah Omojola joined Public Counsel in September 2012. She is a former English teacher and co-founder of a Stand Up For Each Other, an organization that provides advocacy services for students facing disciplinary action in New Orleans. She now works with Public Counsel and Fix School Discipline on policy and advocacy relating to stopping the school-to-prison pipeline.   Sarah ... Read More